The Mission Was Nearly Complete

"Alright, come down now. It's safe here. I killed one of those two wolves that came by earlier, and the other one ran away after seeing its companion die."

Jiang Liu'er had just picked up the firewood and was about to leave when he remembered something and called out to the person who had climbed the tree.

"Is it safe now? I'm coming down now."

The person opened their eyes, looked around, and, after confirming that it was safe, jumped down from the tree.

Following Jiang Liu'er's footsteps, they stayed close behind him and left the place.

"Thank you so much, thank you so much. If it weren't for you today, I probably would have ended up either in the mouth of this wild boar or those two wolves."

After leaving the forest, the man grabbed Jiang Liu'er's hand and shook it repeatedly to express his gratitude.

"You don't need to be so polite with me. It was just a small favor. Besides, my master once told me that saving a life is more meritorious than building a seven-story pagoda. Saving you was simply my duty."

After seeing the person express their gratitude to them so warmly, Jiang Liu'er smiled and began to speak modestly to them.

After thanking Jiang Liu'er, the man waved goodbye.

The two then parted ways; the man headed towards his town, while Jiang Liu'er headed towards his temple.

"Jiang Liu'er, why are you so late today?"

"You usually arrive here before sunset, did something happen on the way?"

As soon as Jiang Liu'er entered the temple gate, he heard the old monk, the abbot of the temple, speaking of his concern.

"I'm back so late today because I rescued someone on my way back from chopping wood."

"When I came back, I saw him trapped in a tree by a wild boar, which kept ramming against the tree, trying to shake him down."

"Finally, I put down the firewood, grabbed the axe, and attacked the wild boar. In no time, I killed it and saved the person hiding in the tree."

"Then I escorted him out of the forest, but just as we were about to leave, two more wolves surrounded us."

"All I saw was him quickly climb the tree, then cling to the trunk, shivering."

Finally, I took out my wood-chopping axe, killed one wolf, scared away another, and successfully rescued the person hiding in the tree.

"I'm late coming back today because I was saving him."

Finally, Jiang Liu'er revealed the reason why he was late that night.

"Good, Jiang Liu'er, you did a great job. Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda. You've built a fourteen-story pagoda with this."

The old monk, who was the abbot of the temple, patted Jiang Liu'er on the shoulder excitedly and praised him.

Meanwhile, the next morning, the person who had been saved by Jiang Liu'er went from street to street, spreading the word about how he had been rescued.

There, they tried their best to describe Jiang Liu'er as heroic and dashing, and as having superb martial arts skills.

Gradually, everyone in the town learned that Jiang Liu'er was not only strong in Buddhism, but also had first-rate martial arts skills. As the news spread, more and more people learned about Jiang Liu'er, a person with both exceptional Buddhist skills and martial arts prowess.

Two or three years later, the emperor issued an edict to the world, seeking a person with profound Buddhist knowledge to go to the Western Heaven to retrieve the Sanzang True Scriptures.

Therefore, a contest to test Buddhist teachings was set up in the capital. The winner would represent the Great Tang on a mission to the Western Regions and obtain the Sanzang True Scriptures upon reaching Tianzhu.

Of course, the winner was not without a reward. Emperor Taizong of Tang would give him a very generous sum of money to spend as he pleased, and Emperor Taizong of Tang would also grant him a small request.

Recently, Emperor Taizong sent people to notify the monks of temples throughout the country, asking each temple to select the one most knowledgeable in Buddhism to debate.

Upon hearing the news, the old abbot of the temple immediately put down what he was doing and dragged Jiang Liu'er to the arena that Emperor Taizong of Tang of Tang had set up.

"Oh, so they've already started the competition to select participants for the journey to the Western Heaven to retrieve the scriptures?"

"That's a good sign. It seems the person we're waiting for will appear soon."

When Bodhisattva Guanyin heard this news from her disciple, the Gloomy Walker, she knew that the person she had been waiting for for hundreds of years was about to appear.

"Master, do you mean that once we hand over the robe and staff given to Buddha Tathagata to this person, we can retire gracefully, right?"

After hearing what Bodhisattva Guanyin said, the pilgrim went straight to the point and asked Bodhisattva Guanyin if it was possible to do so.

"Yes, once we've given the monk who's going to the Western Heaven Paradise to retrieve the scriptures, along with the robe and staff that Buddha gave us, we can leave this place."

Seeing his disciple's impatient expression, Bodhisattva Guanyin quickly gave him a reassuring answer.

"That's good, that's good, finally we can leave this place."

After taking the reassuring pill given to him by Guanyin, Pilgrim Hui'an felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from his heart. He slumped into a chair and let out a long sigh of relief.

When Emperor Taizong of Tang announced the news of the competition to the whole country, he directly ordered these eminent monks to begin debating with each other.

After several days of rigorous selection, Jiang Liu'er stood out from tens of thousands of people and became the most widely recognized Buddhist monk in the entire Great Tang Dynasty.

After learning about this, Emperor Taizong of Tang was so happy that he couldn't sleep for several days. He immediately brought Jiang Liu'er back to his palace and asked him to teach him about Buddhism.

A few days after the competition, Emperor Taizong of Tang held another grand event and invited Jiang Liu'er to preach Buddhism.

Jiang Liu'er agreed without hesitation when he thought about the opportunity to spread Buddhism.

After learning that Jiang Liu'er was going to give a sermon today, Bodhisattva Guanyin appeared on their inevitable route with the two treasures given to her by the Buddha Tathagata, and started selling them there.

A passing monk took a liking to the two treasures of Bodhisattva Guanyin and asked about their price.

However, he regretted it after Bodhisattva Guanyin announced the price.

Bodhisattva Guanyin said that the kasaya and the staff were worth five thousand taels of silver. If you liked them, you could pay the money and take them.